Today is Tuesday, May 20th, 2003; Karen's Korner #57

..."when Merry died"....(part 5)

 

One of the feelings I had after Merry died, was that somehow I (we) were being asked to move ahead with our lives and we were leaving Merry "behind". Life has a way: it just keeps moving.

Something we are taught repeatedly in the Christian faith is that many things are backwards in our spiritual worlds from what we experience in our physical worlds: those who are first will be last; those who are last will be first; those who are weak are strong.....

And then I knew: Merry wasn't behind! She had been propelled ahead........

Whether we are Bible scholars or not, most of us have heard or read the story of Moses and his leading the oppressed people of Israel toward the Promised Land. If no place else, we watched Charleton Heston's role as Moses in "The Ten Commandments".

When the people had moved out of Egypt, they were free for the first time. But it wasn't too long before the pharoah sent troops after Moses and his people to get them to return to the land they had left. To make matters worse, the new pilgrims were situated against the Red Sea with no where to turn. They were trapped and their futures looked bleak.

That is when God opened the Red Sea and allowed the Children of Israel to escape from what appeared to be a hopeless situation. They walked through the sea bed safely on dry ground, while God held back the water. When the soldiers followed behind, they were drowned in the water. The losers became winners; and the winners became losers!

As I thought about this story, it seemed like God was showing me that this story is our story: the story of each of our lives. He is the leader. We are the children. We reach impossible situations, dead ends, death! But that isn't the end of the story. He holds back the waters of life & death and we walk through safely on dry ground. Our job is to keep moving!

And in my mind's eye, I could see Merry....I could visualize her with her short legs, running to reach the Promised Land. She was not behind, but was moving ahead....faster. And as she ran........she never looked back; no backward glances over her shoulder! She was focused on her final destination!

And the rest of us? We continue to walk.........in the same direction, with the same destination, but we are moving slower! We, too, are asked to continue our forward focus and not look back....each of our arrival dates safely on to a new shore, and a new land will vary. But we have only one goal, one journey: keep moving!!

At the same time, I would visualize this.........it seemed like God would say to me, "More people will be in heaven, because Merry lived shorter you would have liked!"

Like everything God does, I am not sure how all this is being accomplished. But this I am sure...like everything God does, He is faithful and keeps His promises..